Week 11 Thoughts

 

Some thoughts following Bucknell's 24-21 win over Georgetown on Saturday.

1. Short and To The Point: Georgetown, its coaches, and its players can do better. A season's worth of platitudes about learning from mistakes and being ready to play went out the window in the fourth quarter of that game. Absent serious injury, you don't give up an 11 point lead with ten minutes in the fourth quarter to a one win team.

Especially if you're a two win team.

There are some serious and growing questions about this team heading into 2023. The soft bigotry of low expectations makes a winning season out of the realm of possibility, but is Georgetown as an institution no better than one win a year south of Poughkeepsie, NY? 

The less said for now, the better, but this team has lost seven consecutive games settled by three points or less dating to the 2016 season. That won't be a problem this week, I'm afraid.

2. GSR, FGR, and WTH: Another NCAA statistic was published today, the 2022 Graduation Success Rate; which, in true NCAA double-speak, isn't about graduation and isn't even about 2022.

As defined in a  PL release, "the graduation rates are the most recent recorded graduating class that started school in 2015," which means not the class of 2022, but the graduating class of 2019. Did it take three years to compile that data?

Also, according to the release, The Division I Board of Directors created the GSR in response to Division I college and university presidents who wanted data that more accurately reflected the mobility of college students than the federal graduation rate. The federal rate counts any student who leaves a school as an academic failure, whether they enroll at another school. The GSR formula removes from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible and includes student-athletes who transfer to a school after initially enrolling elsewhere." This allows Georgetown men's basketball to claim a 100% on the GSR while its federal rate hovers at 50 percent, and the actual graduation rates are even less. 

For those still following this, here are the PL football rates:

When it comes to GSR, it's "first in war, first in peace, first in the Patriot League." 

3. Around the PL: Last week's games brought little interest with the title race previously concluded.

Lehigh 36, Colgate 33: A surprise of sorts, given that Lehigh hasn't scored more than 28 points all season and Colgate gave up its most to any PL team this season, even Holy Cross. Lehigh travels to Lafayette for the season ender while Colgate seeks to avoid its worst finish since 1995 at Fordham.

Holy Cross 36, Bryant 29: Another surprise of sorts, given how close this game was; then again, the Northeast Conference is better than the PL thinks they are. Don't expect a repeat of this defensive performance against Georgetown on Saturday.

Fordham 45, Lafayette 10: Not a surprise. Tim DeMorat finished 32-of-45 passes for 482 yards and four touchdowns as the Rams continue to make their case for an at-large bid. Were it any other conference, they'd be in, but because it's the PL, it's probably 60-40 in their favor.

The league standings entering week 12. Barring something unusual, Georgetown is guaranteed a last place finish.

1. Holy Cross (10-0, 5-0 PL)

2. Fordham (8-2, 4-1)

3. Lafayette (3-7, 2-3)

4. Lehigh (3-7, 2-3)

5. Colgate (3-7, 2-3)

6. Bucknell (2-8, 2-4)

7. Georgetown (2-8, 1-4)

Week 10 Thoughts

Some thoughts following St. Francis' 38-24 win over Georgetown Saturday:

1. 36.7. That's the points per game allowed by Georgetown this season, most since 2007. You're not going to win games giving up that many points in a game, which is what happened Saturday. Despite an early 14-0 lead, the Hoyas could not manage its defensive sets, the offense turned the ball over on consecutive drives to open the second half (where the Hoyas are being outscored for the season 106-51), and the defense is allowing over 50 percent of third downs and an ungainly 64 percent of fourth downs to continue  drives. On the contrary, Georgetown was 1 of 6 Saturday.

By the first week of November, this cake is baked. The defense is not getting any better. It may hold its own versus Bucknell but will be battered and beaten by Holy Cross for as long as they want to before bringing in the reserves. For a program which used to shine on defense, the lack of experience in 2022 was a major factor, and perhaps, maybe, enough return in 2023 to reestablish the defense as more credible. This season has been a grind in every sense of the word. 

2. 118. That's Georgetown's ranking among 123 schools in rushing, a now common occurrence on annual statistics.  Georgetown has rushed for fewer yards as a team (762)  than Holy Cross quarterback Matthew Sluka (769). Some of this is due to a pass-first offense, but a lot of it is due to Georgetown's deficiencies in recruiting impact players in the Patriot League. Undersized backs with undersized lines are not a formula for  offensive consistency, and while Pierce Holley has done great work at quarterback, it obscures how thin the rushing game could be for Georgetown in 2023 without some significant recruiting or transfer support. 

Of the bottom six teams in rushing, Georgetown is the only one of the six with more than one win this season. The bottom five (Presbyterian, Western Illinois, VMI, Wagner, and Robert Morris) are a combined 3-43.

3. Joshua Tomas. This has not been an era for great stars at Georgetown, but let's recognize and salute the efforts of Joshua Tomas entering the final two games of his college career. 

As noted from the GUHoyas.com game recap: " Tomas had a stellar afternoon, making seven catches for a personal-best 180 yards and two touchdowns. His 180 receiving yards are the most in a game since Cameron Crayton put up 190 on Columbia in 2021. The GU wide receiver set the single-season record for receptions with 79, surpassing Chris Murphy's mark of 74.  The Illinois native also set the all-time Hoya record for most career receptions in Blue & Gray with 207, smashing the previous mark held by Murphy as well (205)."

(I'm not sure 207 "smashes" 205, but you get the point.)

" I've been saying it all season, Joshua Tomas is the best receiver in the league and maybe at [the FCS]  level," said head coach Rob Sgarlata. "It was great to see his body of work credited with the records that he broke today."

Tomas enters the Bucknell game 25 yards ahead of Fordham's Fotis Kokosioulis for the national lead in receiving yards. Two more strong games offers Tomas a legitimate bid for All-America honors, with the last Georgetown receiver to do so being Chris Murphy in 1991.

4. Around The PL:

Holy Cross 42, Lehigh 14: The Crusaders are ascendant. the Engineers are not. This week: Holy Cross seeks its 10th straight versus Bryant (3-6) at Fitton Field, while Lehigh hosts Colgate.

Lafayette 21, Colgate 16: An important win for the Leopards as the John Troxell era takes hold at College Hill. Lafayette led 21-10 at the half and held the Red raiders to three punts in four second half drives. This week: While Colgate travels to Lehigh, Lafayette travels to Fordham. 

Week 9 Thoughts

Some thoughts following Georgetown's 30-20 win over Lafayette:

1. Having Their Number: Perhaps it's just preparation. Perhaps it's more likely for two teams who have not had a winning season between themselves in over a decade to be closely matched. Either way, Georgetown's win Saturday was a welcome if brief  respite against the relentlessly uphill climb which the University seems unwilling to fix. 

As noted here recently, the win-loss numbers against Patriot League teams are grim. In the last 10 years, however, a pattern is evident between Georgetown and Lafayette, (and to some extent, Bucknell), and everyone else. Since 2012, here are Georgetown's win-loss records by PL opponent:

Bucknell: 4-5

Colgate: 0-10

Fordham 1-9

Holy Cross: 2-7

Lafayette: 5-5

Lehigh: 1-9

Put another way, with a win over Bucknell in two weeks, GU would be an even 10-10 against either Lafayette or Bucknell, and a combined 4-35 versus everyone else.

What was (or is) Georgetown's secret against Lafayette? In these 10 games, three patterns follow:

1. Close, low scoring games: The "Rule of 22" is a knockout punch to Georgetown teams when the opponent can score 22 or more points, but it's a number rarely seen in the series. Georgetown's 30 points were the most scored by any team since 2015.  The Leopards have scored more than 24 points against the Hoyas just once since 2010, as compared to five such scores before 2010. 

2. Defensive control: Unlike games against Fordham or Colgate where the Hoyas cannot control the line of scrimmage, these two teams are very comparable across the lines, which helps to keep both teams in contention.

3. Key plays: Rob Sgarlata calls them "criticals" , those four or five plays that can change a game. Saturday, Georgetown connected on four of them:

1. 1st Quarter: Lafayette tries a fake punt after gaining five yards on a Georgetown offsides: Georgetown holds the Leopards and scores its first touchdown on the succeeding drive. 

2. 2nd Quarter: Score one for the Leopards for the sack and fumble recovery that led to the Leopards'  late second quarter score and a reversal of momentum entering the second half.

3. 3rd Quarter: Georgetown picks up the big turnover when Wedner Cadet gets ahead of Ah-Shaun Davis' flanker pass. This ends the Leopards' run that closed to 17-14 and sets up a Georgetown touchdown.

4. 4th quarter: Defensive Lapse: The Hoyas had been waiting to work the Lafayette secondary and it come with a flash with Jimmy Kibble's 46 yard touchdown pass, extending the lead.

5. Defensive Stop. A late two point conversion attempt would have closed the Georgetown lead to eight, but the Hoyas held and Lafayette never mounted a comeback.

2. Attendance Check. Announced attendance at Saturday's game was 3,473. This image from the broadcast begs to differ.

3. Around the PL: No one will long remember Georgetown-Lafayette, but they will remember Fordham-Holy Cross.

Holy Cross 53, Fordham 52: The game was for the nominative league championship and it delivered, with the Crusaders falling behind but tying the score in regulation on a strange official's call where a personal foul penalty was called to have taken place after  the touchdown had been caught. Fordham fans can be forgiven if that didn't reek of a homer call.

In the overtime, Tim, DeMorat needed one play to give the Rams the lead, then answered by the Crusaders. HC coach Bob Chesney opted to go for two, then pulled a reverse out of his playbook for the win--shades of Boise State taking out Oklahoma with the Statue of Liberty play from years gone by. Here's the winning play:

Chesney's star is ascendant. The Crusaders fans should enjoy it  before he gets a call from a larger program.  Holy Cross plays Lehigh this weekend, Fordham gets Bucknell. Both should be big wins for the league leaders.

Colgate 13, Bucknell 7:  For all the fireworks in Worcester, the Red Raiders got past a sleepy Bucknell outfit before just 1,164 in Lewisburg. The Bison now average less than ten points a game heading into a game with the high-powered Fordham offense, while Colgate continues its upward trajectory hosting Lafayette.

Week 8 Thoughts, After The Bye

Some thoughts following Colgate's 34-24 win over Georgetown this past Saturday:

1. A Milestone: Yes, a milestone, and not an encouraging one. Saturday's loss was the 100th loss in Patriot League play for Georgetown since 2001, which gets even less encouraging in comparison to the record at large: 24-100. 

Some numbers behind the 100:

1. The distribution across schools is fairly even. Putting aside two losses to exiting member Towson in 2001 and 2003, the records are as follows:

Bucknell: 7-13
Lafayette: 7-13
Holy Cross: 4-16
Fordham: 3-18
Colgate: 1-18
Lehigh: 1-20
(It does no one any good when GU's combined records against three of these opponents is 5-56.)

2. The average margin of defeat over these 100 games is 19 points. Twenty games have been decided by less than a touchdown, 20 games by four touchdowns or more. In the 24 wins, nine have been by less than a touchdown and one by four touchdowns or more

3. Of 40 Eastern schools who have played in the I-AA/FCS subdivision continuously since 2001, Georgetown and Cornell have the fewest winning seasons, just one each.

Two decades ago, Bob Benson warned everyone that would listen that it was going to be an uphill climb, but even the optimist in Benson would not have predicted how long it would take. Yes, it took Fordham 12 years, we thought at the time, but surely it wouldn't take Georgetown  that long, right? Benson won five PL games in five seasons. Kevin Kelly won ten in eight seasons, four of which was in the 2011 season alone. Rob Sgarlata stands at just nine.

Much time and digital ink has been spent on these pages discussing the whys of what got Georgetown to this place.  Institutionally, there's no good direction on where to improve things. If it were just the coaching, that's an easier call, but it's not. Better player recruiting and development is a given, bit how do you accomplish this against the PL admissions firewall? Scheduling remains parochial at best: while Lafayette will play Duke next fall, Georgetown likely welcomes that old friend, Marist, and we wonder why interest remains so low.

Georgetown has parallels elsewhere in college football: Vanderbilt is certainly one of them. It has never won an SEC championship, plays in the smallest stadium in the conference, has a overall conference winning record of .257, and is 1-28 in SEC play since the 2018 season. What it has that Georgetown does not is a TV contract for the ages: between 2025 and 2035, Vanderbilt will receive up to $1 billion in rights fees, and that buys a lot of sorrows.

But for all its sorrows, Vanderbilt doesn't compete like it's 2001 and neither should Georgetown. How do we invest in a future and not just pay for the present? Otherwise, it's more of the same.

2. Colgate, Redux: The Hoyas came as close to Collages as might be expected Saturday, but the defensive lapses continue unabated. Giving up six consecutive scoring drives is unacceptable no matter the defensive coordinator, the team captains or whoever is on the field. 

One statistic, as much as any, tells the story of the 2022 Georgetown Hoyas:  it is rated last in FCS (123rd) in third down conversions allowed, 56.8 percent. That keeps a lot of drives going, and leads to a lot of points. Colgate converted 10 third down drives last week and most led to scores. 

The losing streak has obscured some solid play by the offense, particularly in the passing game. Pierce Holley is 14th nationally in passing yards and Joshua Tomas is ninth in receiving yards. Post-season individual honors are rare for 1-6 teams, and both may be overlooked when all is said and done. But we shouldn't.

3. Around the PL: It's still two good teams and five weaker ones in the league, and those two collide Saturday in Worcester for, barring something completely unexpected, the PL championship.  Last week's games didn't change this trajectory a bit.

Bucknell 19, Lehigh 17: A late field goal ended a 13 game losing streak for the Bison, while the Tom Gilmore era at Bethlehem continues to grow darker. The Bison get a resurgent Colgate team this week, with three of its final four at home. Lehigh gets the buy and faces Holy Cross in two weeks. At present,  Lehigh's only win is the 21-19 win at Georgetown.

Holy Cross 24, Lafayette 21: A good game for both teams, and a view into the rapidly improving Leopards under John Troxell. HC needed a pair of late plays, including a score with 4:00 left, to hang on. A trap game? No, just the kind of good, strong test on the road the Crusaders will need to close out the season unbeaten, with  all eyes, at least those outside Easton and Lewisburg, to meet the mighty offense of Fordham.

Week 6 Thoughts

 

Some thoughts following Penn's 59-28 win over Georgetown Saturday:

1. Anchor(ed) Down: Say what you will about the defense, and we will, but a team which does not successfully run the ball is a team that does not win. 

Enter the 115th ranked Georgetown Hoyas, featuring a senior and a fifth year graduate student, with 82 yards per game. Excepting the Marist game, that number drops to just 54.2 yards a game, which would rank 122nd of 123 teams. This is not a knock on the players in the backfield, because by year four or five they're doing their best work, or an offensive line which is comprised of one junior, three seniors, and a fifth year. Not an underclassmen to be found. And what does it say about 2023 when the one returning member of the depth chart, current junior Shane Stewart, has just 48 yards this season?

This is a recruiting problem, though not a new one.  Georgetown hasn't had an impact RB in years and has only had one 1,000 yard rusher in school history. Runners are hard to come by at Georgetown, more so when you're competing against six scholarship teams. Since 2005, only one GU player is even in the top 10 in school records for carries or yards in a season, and Joel Kimpela's 5.2 yard average in 2014 would be a full yard per carry better than any of this year's totals. The Hoyas had higher hopes for sophomore Naieem Kearney, but he hasn't seen action this season. Mason Gudger's two kickoff returns brought the Hoyas as much publicity as they've received all season, but at 5-9, 175, he has three yards on two carries and may be better suited for kickoffs than the trenches. And after Stewart, that's it for the bench. Impact positions like rushing are in demand, and Georgetown is not a destination.

The Hoyas' next two opponents each rank in the top third in FCS rushing defense, so expect more of the same.

2. Defensively Challenged: Followers of FCS football could be forgiven for seeing Fordham put up 59 on the Hoyas, well, they seem to put up that many on everyone. Few could have guessed a Penn team averaging a more modest 20.0 a game to torch the Georgetown defense a week later. The Quakers averaged 97 yards a game on the ground entering the game and picked up 187; an average of 227 yards in the air prior to Saturday netted 274.

Field position was important: in its first ten possessions, Penn started, on average,. at the Georgetown 48. That doesn't excuse the fact that, with just eight first downs after halftime, Penn scored five consecutive touchdowns, and only two drives were more than seven plays. 

The defense isn't very good, and that's concerning for the second half of the season with more traditional offenses like Colgate and Lafayette that will grind on the Hoyas defensively. Georgetown has given up an average of 51 points a game versus its last four opponents.

Yes, more scoring by the Hoyas would have helped--its second half points all came from Gudger's kickoffs, but would it have mattered? Without focused defense play up front, it's more of the same.

3. Remember That Name: This item from the Penn media notes, one reported on the ESPN+ broadcast:  WR Malone Howley's father "played basketball at Georgetown from 1985-89." 

Really, four years? Did someone check this?

Well, let's do so: his father Chris Howley graduated from Georgetown with a BSBA in 1989. But if he played basketball, it was at Yates. He's mentioned four times in the HOYA over four years, but each for intramural ball. "Point guard Tim Fording should rack up assists as he dishes off to forwards Ed Grefenstette, Chris Howley and football QB Matt Zebrowski," it wrote in 1986, and none of those ever saw the floor at Capital Centre.

In 1988, Howley scored seven first half points as  his team made it to the finals of the Early Bird Basketball Tournament at Yates, for what it's worth. But he wasn't on the varsity, period. Malone's grandfather Dan Howley (B'65) also was a Hoya, and he didn't play basketball either.

Chris Howley's professional bio does not mention such experiences, and let's assume someone at Penn's sports information office made a mistake. But if you're playing at Georgetown of all places, it might be worth a quick fact check before you say it on the air.

4. Around The PL: At the halfway point, all signs point to the Holy Cross-Fordham game on October 29 as the league title game, while the other five schools are a combined 5-23.

Fordham 40, Lehigh 28: The Engineers gave it a run but Tim DeMorat was just too good: 26-for-37 for 499 yards and four touchdowns. This week: Fordham hosts Stony Brook (0-5), Lehigh is at Cornell (2-2).

Princeton 23, Lafayette 2: The last time the Leopards were held to two points in a game was 1975, and it probably felt like the 1970's on Saturday. The Leopards had a total of   yards at halftime, 206 yards for the game, but never crossed the Tigers' 20. This week: The Leopards are off this week.

Holy Cross 57, Bucknell 0: It could have been worse. The Crusaders outagained the Bison 511-160, rushed 50 times for 314 yards, and collected turnovers on three of Bucknell's final five possessions. Bucknell allowed scores on each of HC's first eight possessions. This week: Holy Cross is off , while the winless Bison travel to Yale.

Week 5 Thoughts

Some thoughts following Fordham's 59-38 win over Georgetown Saturday:

1. Looking Back: The final was not unexpected. Yes, the early first quarter lead by the Hoyas proved surprising, but Fordham is a good team and good teams adjust. Unfortunately, Georgetown did not.

The Hoyas were likely to get points on the Rams' defense, because, well, everyone has this season. Fordham is weak in the middle of its secondary and Georgetown picked at this all game. The Hoyas' 38 points was the most it has scored against any PL opponent in 11 years, but it was never going to be enough against a Fordham team averaging a nation's best 51.8. 

That's a direct result of Fordham QB Tim DeMorat, who is going to be playing pro football next season. DeMorat has the size and temperament to be a very effective player at the next level because he reads the field of play very well and mixes up his targets. Six different receivers shared 21 completions last week, and if the idea of 21 receptions for 348 yards scares you a little, it should.

Strange as it sounds, the game wasn't won in the air but on the ground. Fordham outgained Georgetown 277-82, and it was even more pronounced when you review it on a quarter by quarter basis:

Fordham:

1st quarter: 19 yards

2nd quarter: 138 yards

3rd quarter: 51 yards

4th quarter: 74 yards

Georgetown:

1st quarter: 45 yards

2nd quarter: 2 yards

3rd quarter: 10 yards

4th quarter: 15 yards

Fordham entered the game allowing 187.5 yards a game and Georgetown got 82. The Hoyas' lack of rushing production has been a two decades long story in the PL and GU now averages 63.7 yards per game in its last four. 

2. Looking Ahead: Those rushing numbers will be challenging again on Saturday, as Penn arrives to Cooper Field holding opponents to just 2.4 yards a carry and 79.0 yards per game. Its September 24 game with Lafayette is as close a comparison as we can see to a PL team right now: the Quakers held the Leopards to one net yard rushing and a -50 in sacks and tackles for loss.

Penn (3-0) is off to its best start since its undefeated season of 2003, and that starts with defense. The Quakers rank second nationally in total defense, fifth in rushing, and eighth in passing. It's the best unit that Penn defensive coordinator (and former Georgetown coach) Bob Benson has had in his seven seasons at Franklin Field and it's a tall order for a Georgetown rushing offense that has gone backwards since its easy win over Marist.

3. Scholarship Blues: For reasons explained in depth on these pages, Georgetown's lack of scholarship support from the University is a direct factor in its annual records. But how have other PL teams fared since scholarships were introduced to the league? Here are the numbers in league play since 2014:

Colgate 32-13

Fordham 30-16

Holy Cross 28-17

Lehigh 26-20

Lafayette 18-28

Bucknell 16-30

Georgetown 9-35

If that's not bad enough, how about the last four seasons:

Holy Cross 13-1

Fordham 9-7

Lehigh 9-7

Colgate 8-7

Lafayette 7-9

Bucknell 5-11

Georgetown 2-12

4. Around The PL: Four games this week, with decided favorites in each.

Monmouth 35, Lehigh 7: The seat warms for Tom Gilmore as the Engineers (1-4) were taken out early and never recovered. Fewer than 3,000 at Goodman Stadium was not a good sign, either. This week: A home game with Fordham (4-1) does not look promising.

Cornell 34, Colgate 31: An upset of sorts given how the Big Red have trended in recent seasons. Cornell scored the final ten points of the game, including a field goal with 1:55 remaining to earn the win, sending the Red Raiders to 1-4. This week: idle.

Holy Cross 30, Harvard 21: The Crusaders (5-0) earned its first win in Cambridge in 19 years behind 300 passing yards and 63 rushing yards from Matthew Sluka. The Crimson were held to just seven points after halftime. This week: home versus Bucknell.

Lafayette 24, Bucknell 14: Just 1,370 in Lewisburg for this one, where  the Leopards'  A.T. Ntantang shut down the Bison (0-5) with an 80- yard interception returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. This week : Lafayette (2-3) hosts undefeated Princeton, while winless Bucknell, averaging 10.2 points per game, must play Holy Cross at its annual Polar Park game. 

Week 4 Thoughts

Some thoughts following Columbia's 42-6 win over Georgetown:

1. Momentum.  Putting aside the final score of Saturday's game with Columbia, those of us who have followed this series have noticed something in every season: the Columbia talent gets better every year. Al Bagnoli will go into the College Football Hall of Fame for his nine Ivy championships at Pennsylvania, but his work at Columbia may be some of his best coaching yet.

From 1951 to 2015, Columbia posted a total of four winning seasons in football. Four. To put this in comparison, even with 13 seasons for not playing at Georgetown, the Hoyas managed 22 winning seasons in that same period. If the Lions split their remaining games this season, Bagnoli will have posted winning seasons in four of his last five. He's done it in spite of the headwinds that have bedeviled Lion football for generations: the facilities 100 blocks from campus, the indifference and insouciance of its student body, and seven fellow schools who recruit against Columbia the same way the SEC recruits against Vanderbilt: "there's no winning there."

So many coaches have walked across Baker Field, and later went headlong into a brick wall: Aldo Donelli, Frank Navarro, Bill Campbell, Bob Naso, Jim Garrett, Larry McElreavy, Ray Tellier, Bob Shoop, Norries Wilson, Pete Mangurian. From 1979 to 1991, Columbia won a total of nine games.  When Bagnoli took over in 2015, the Light Blue was a combined 4-36 in the prior four. 

Columbia isn't Fordham, and it's not even Harvard. Saturday's game with Princeton will say a lot about where Columbia fits in the 2022 race; while picked sixth, the degree to how their defense will mature will say a lot if they can move up the ranks. 

Georgetown won the first two games in this nine game series versus Columbia and Columbia has won four of the next five. Those four have all come under Al Bagnoli, and that's no accident.

The players notice it, too.

"We have so many dudes that can get it done. I think me adding another is just adding more versatility to the offense,” said WR Bryson Canty. "Already in the first few games, we’ve improved so much from last year, because I remember last year we struggled to put up points sometimes."

At 69, this is likely Bagnoli's last job as a head coach. More than most, he has left a legacy to his successor and to Columbia University as a whole: if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere.

2. Lessons From Week Four. When an opponent is 14 of 18 on third  down conversions, trouble follows, no matter if the opponent is Columbia or Clemson. Following a missed field goal midway in the first quarter, the Lions scored on seven of seven of its final eight possessions. 

This starts on the ground, where Georgetown is allowing 4.5 yards per play. That's leaving a third and one, on average. The defensive line is not getting the penetration and this gives an opposing offense that most valuable of resources: time. It's a toxic combination when the Hoyas face Fordham on Saturday, given the skill of its passing offense. The Rams have more passing touchdowns in 2022 (22) than Georgetown has in total this season (nine) .

Georgetown hasn't given up on the run (32 carries per game) but if there was a week to do so, this may be it. The Rams are allowing 374 yards per game in the air, which is more than Georgetown averages overall (347.3), so it brings a question following rushing struggles with Monmouth and Columbia: do you just make this a passing contest? 

Tempting as it may be, Georgetown doesn't win that argument. The Rams have not scored fewer than 48 points in four games this season, while the last Division I school that the Hoyas scored 48 points on was Marist...in 2011.  Georgetown has never scored 48 points in a Patriot League game.

Time of possession is the only way, perhaps, for Georgetown to stay close with Fordham. That starts on the ground and it ends on the defensive line. Both need a spark this week.

3. Around the  Patriot League: Week four saw the continuing distance between the top two and the bottom five.

Ohio 59, Fordham 52: It didn't take long before the artillery started flying: 1,332 yards and ten passing touchdowns later, Ohio overcame a 49-38 deficit and two fourth quarter fumbles to prevail, 59-52. The Rams' defense continues to have serious questions, but its offense is without peer. This week: vs. Georgetown (1-3).

Holy Cross 35, Colgate 10: In its first serious test of the season, the Crusaders overcame a 10-7 deficit to Colgate before a convincing 35-10 win over the Red Raiders at Fitton Field. The first of two challenges to an undefeated season for the Purple comes Saturday, where they seek its first win in Cambridge since 2000. This week: Holy Cross at Harvard (2-0), Colgate vs. Cornell (1-1)

Princeton 29, Lehigh 17: A competitive game through the third quarter, three Lehigh turnovers turned the corner for Princeton. Still a lot of questions for the Engineers, but this game was won they will look back upon as an opportunity lost.   This week: vs. Monmouth (2-2)

Penn 12, Lafayette 0: The Leopards struggled on the ground, with one net yard against the stronger Quaker defense. Lafayette was stopped in its only red zone possession of the game, and that was enough. A battle of attrition follows Saturday at winless Bucknell (0-3), who was off this past week.